Amar is one of the leading advocates and contributing member of Global Blockchain community, have been rated as one of the top Experts by ICOBench and is an Advisory Board Member of many Blockchain projects around the world. Amar is a keynote speaker and has keynoted many major Blockchain Conferences like Singapore Blockchain Conference, Blockchain Summit etc. Amar also boasts a very rich corporate and educational background and have worked with firms like Microsoft, the World Bank, Airbus etc., and holds multiple Masters’ degrees (including MBA and M.Sc. in Economics) from top schools around the world.

So first things first, what are your predictions for 2018?

The number of wallets is going to increase dramatically, like browsers in 1994.

Two years ago, there was order of magnitude 1MM wallets. Today that number is order of magnitude 10MM. In a few years, we will hit 100MM, and then 1 Billion. Its simple, geometric growth. Bitcoin may not be all that useful, but it’s useful enough — especially outside the developed world, as an alternative store of value.

There will be multiple underlying token technologies. It’s not clear who will win.

Going back to the browser analogy, Mosaic seemed invincible until killed by Netscape, Netscape seemed king until Microsoft killed it with IE, and today we all use Google Chrome. Ethereum is great, but EOS could be the Ethereum killer, until Google (or somebody else) creates an EOS killer…

There will be some truly interesting technical developments

Self driving cars negotiating contracts on the blockchain, file storage micro transactions in a completely encrypted, decentralized world, property records encoded permanently as blockchain records; some of these things will happen, others will fail, but blockchain will make its mark on the future — no doubt about it.

There will be a very large amount of tokens

When the app store started, it wasn’t clear that there would ever be over two million apps. But there are. The fact there are a lot of tokens does not mean that they will all be worthless, or that bitcoin will be worthless. There will be massive differences between tokens, just like massive differences between the top apps, and the rest.

What tips would you give to others trying to build their business?

Test the waters first before diving in head first.

Don’t be too focused on raising the money that you won’t even need

Always ask yourself what problem you are trying to solve, rather than just focusing on numbers

If implementing Blockchain or new technology, ask yourself whether we really need it, or if we can do the project without it

You have recently become Advisor of an interesting project called SkyTao, would you tell us a little about it and why you agreed to take it up?

SkyTao has the potential to be world’s first consultation network on blockchain. SkyTao is an innovative idea that builds on the blockchain to provide a secure and easy way to share and save information.

By using the block chain to keep track of who has access to which information in encrypted form, users and experts will be able to fully control the exchange and availability of information and knowledge sharing.

Information is power; knowledge is power. SkyTao aims to be the decentralized repository and network for our shared human knowledge base.

Besides, the concept and potential, what made me choose SkyTao was also a very capable Leadership and team. Tian Xia (Founder) is a math wizard and has been in Wall Street for more than 10 years and has seen it all.

By using the block chain to keep track of who has access to which information in encrypted form, users and experts will be able to fully control the exchange and availability of information and knowledge sharing.

Token sales are here to stay as a means of raising money for startups.

China may have outlawed ICO’s (temporarily, until they become regulated), and the SEC is watching closely — but the idea of selling tokens instead of preferred shares has just too many advantages to be shut down. Liquidity, access to a global market, daily mark to market and ease of partial sales are 4 killer reasons this is here to stay.

But, ICOs will have to be reigned in.

You can’t have the kind of outright fraud, misleading statements and get rich quick schemes that have popped up over the last 90 days continue. There will be consequences. The problem is really a consumer protection one. How this plays out is unknown — but there will be legal action against some of the worst players.

Any advice for our audience interested in this space?

If you have capital, or time, this is a good place to focus energy on.

There are very few (if any) new trends as disruptive as crypto. Unless you have a unique angle on AI or AR, this is where the action is.

Are you available for other Advisory positions in the space?

I am always looking for new challenges and good ideas with potential. I’m approachable for any discussions about it via my LinkedIn.